Harry Finch doesn’t know how long he’ll be in the Kent Spitfires side for – but he’s determined to enjoy it when given the chance.
The 31-year-old has been unfortunate to miss out on a starting berth in both the county’s four-day and white-ball teams.
But he made the most of his first appearance of the summer on Sunday by hitting an excellent 64 not out off just 42 balls to guide the Spitfires to an eight-wicket win at Surrey.
With Tawanda Muyeye ruled out due to concussion protocols, Finch opened the innings at The Oval but wasn’t weighed down by the need to score big runs to press his claim for a regular spot.
“Of course it does [go through your mind] in the build-up,” said Finch.
“But once you’re out there, I think it only really goes through your mind at the back end, where you’re like, ‘let’s just be ruthless now and make sure we see it home’.
“You try not to when you’re in the middle of playing, because that’s just going to make you play safe. I actually went the other way.
“I don’t know how Tawanda is, hopefully he’s all right for the next game.
“I was like, well, if this is the one game I’m going to play, I’m just going to go and enjoy it and give my best.
“I’ve been playing really well, so I’ve come in confident. That’s how I viewed it – that I’m going to play one game and then Tawanda might come back, but you never know.”
Finch set the tone by hitting Tom Curran for successive boundaries, including a six, in the second over.
“It was good, really enjoyable,” he added. “It was just being smart, that’s where I’ve probably improved from last year, just being able to go up and down the gears a little bit.
“The bowlers won us the game there and it made it really easy for us to get going. The messaging at the halfway stage was to give yourself a few balls.
“I think I gave myself four and then thought I’d pivot. That’s the whole point of the powerplay in that sort of chase. You want to get ahead of the game and I just thought, why not?”
Finch has been left out of the County Championship side this summer but that’s meant he has been playing white-ball cricket with the seconds heading into the Blast.
“Obviously mixed emotions,” said Finch. “The frustration of not playing in the four-day stuff. But, actually, a positive of that is I’ve been able to get some good white-ball cricket behind me and feel like I’ve just improved again from last year.
“That’s shown in my second-team performances. I’ve had to be a bit patient this year and I’ve got my opportunity through an unfortunate incident, but I felt confident and I was ready to take it.”
Despite being one of those looking in for the first part of the summer, Finch is excited by the depth of the Kent squad.
On their day, he believes they’re a match for anyone in the T20 Blast.
“I think we’ve shown again on Sunday that we’re as good as anyone in this competition,” said Finch.
“What’s really exciting this year is, yes, it’s been frustrating for myself, Chris Benjamin, Joey Evison and Matt Parkinson, who haven’t played as many games, but that’s a really strong bench.
“If you’ve got us guys waiting in the sheds to come in and take our chance when we get it, then I think the club is in a really good spot.
“It’s just sticking to our process, trust what we do, be aggressive, be brave and take the game on. If you look at the four games we’ve played so far, we’ve dominated three of them.”
